Safe & Sound
by theslytherinrose
Summary: Five Lucissa drabbles based on "Safe & Sound" by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars for the Lyric Inspired Drabble Challenge II. [TW for miscarriage/stillbirth in Part I. Part II is also my entry in the Tarot Card Challenge for Temperance Primary.]
1. I

**A/N: This collection of drabbles is my entry in the Lyric Inspired Drabble Challenge II. This is in five parts, each of which is focused on a lyric from the song "Safe & Sound" by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars. Each is focused on Lucissa (from Lucius's POV, because Narcissa gets Light in Oblivion). Please let me know what you think. _Trigger warning: Part I contains references to miscarriage/stillbirth._**

* * *

 **I.**

 **" _I remember tears streaming down your face when I said 'I'll never let you go.'"_**

 **1976**

She'd asked him how he could stand this agony.

She'd been sitting in his lap with his fingers running through her hair as her head rested on his shoulder for roughly an hour, now, and the candles illuminating the darkness of their bedroom had nearly burned down into nothing. Days earlier, their daughter Alcyone had arrived stillborn, and the majority of the intervening time had been spent in positions like this as Lucius and Narcissa attempted to hold themselves together.

"I can't stand it," said Lucius, the hand that not tracing his wife's hair softly rubbing her back as he spoke. "It's tearing me apart. But all we have is one another." He pulled her closer and kissed her hair. "And even though I don't feel it in the slightest right now, I intend to be as strong as I possibly can, for you."

Narcissa clung to Lucius's shirt desperately, her knuckles turning white as she buried her face and her tears in his chest. He held her tightly as she sobbed, and eventually, she spoke again.

"It's my fault," she breathed. "I must've done something wrong, I must've—"

"Narcissa, _no._ " Lucius shifted his hand to her cheek and used it to tilt her chin upward, forcing her to look at him. "Don't you ever think that. This is not your fault, not in any way."

"How can you still love me?"

He stared at her, his eyes burning with renewed tears as he took in the pain in hers. He'd loved her since they'd been in school, and she knew this. But he saw in her face that she had been so broken by this loss as to doubt herself worthy of that love.

"I will always love you," he said quietly. "More than anything else in this world. No matter what happens, I will be with you, and I will never let you go. Come here."

He pulled her once again into his embrace, and he continued to hold her until long after the last of the candles had burned out.


	2. II

**A/N: Part II is also my submission for the Tarot Card Challenge ( _Card #22, The Temperance primary: Balance of temperament. It indicates good management and co-operation. A time of peace and harmony is at hand with the Questioner entering into a period of calmness and the ability to cope better._ I've applied this to Lucius coping with distressing memories of Azkaban and Narcissa trying to ease his mind and help him through it.)**

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 **II.**

 **" _Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, You'll be all right, no one can hurt you now"_**

 **1997**

Lucius wasn't certain how long he had actually been awake before he opened his eyes. He glanced around the room and faced a moment of panic in which he had no idea where he was, and then he remembered.

Home.

He looked down to watch Narcissa, who lay with her head resting on his chest, and he had to smile at the sight. No matter how hellish the outside world had become, at least they were together.

His smile widened as she wrapped her arm around him and squeezed his middle, and he wondered how long she'd been awake.

"Good morning," he said quietly.

"Good morning, my darling." She hugged him tighter. "How did you sleep?"

"Peacefully. I think that's due to you." He lifted a hand to run his fingers through her hair. "I always sleep much better with you."

He felt her smile against his chest. "I'm glad. I missed this so much."

He could only recall one recent period in which they'd slept anywhere but together. He paused in his motions as the image of his Azkaban cell flashed through his mind. The dark, cold room sought to pull him in, and he shuddered, forgetting for a moment that he wasn't alone apart from the threat of dementors looming outside.

"Darling, look at me. Look at me, Lucius. It's all right."

The touch of a hand on his cheek sent a shock of electricity through him, and he flinched, blinking away the horrifying images.

That wasn't the touch of a dementor.

It took a moment for his mind to return to the present, and when it did—when he saw that Narcissa had raised her head and took in the fear in her eyes—he crumbled.

"Cissy..." _Please stay here,_ he thought. _Don't be a dream._

"Right here, my love. I'm right here." She scooted upward until she could lean her forehead against his, and he closed his eyes, inhaling deeply. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, and he concentrated on her presence.

"Sweetheart it's all right. It's over. You're safe, and you're here with me, yeah?" She wrapped her arms around his neck and slid closer.

Lucius nodded slowly, his hands beginning to trace Narcissa's back.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm here with you." Opening his eyes at last, he looked at her, taking in the concern on her face. He lifted his own to kiss her forehead before leaning against it again. "It's okay."

She smiled softly. "I don't want you to be afraid. Nothing like that is _ever_ going to happen again. I won't let it."

He knew her words were completely sincere and that she would do whatever she could to keep him from returning to that awful place, but the thought of little Narcissa fighting off the Ministry of Magic singlehandedly was not one he could envision ending well. But the fact that he knew she would try meant the world to him. He leaned forward to kiss her gently.


	3. III

**III.**

 **" _Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire"_**

 **1998**

Screams echoed through the stone corridors of the school where Lucius and Narcissa had each spent seven years of their lives, bodies falling to the ground with each passing second as jets of light ripped through the air. Lucius could hear Narcissa's panicked breathing even through the clamor surrounding them, and he held tightly to her hand as they ran through the rubble of the crumbling building, hoping to communicate with the touch that as long as they stayed together, they would be fine.

Suddenly, Narcissa paused, nearly pulling Lucius over with the abruptness of her halt as he'd attempted to keep running. As he stopped beside her, he followed her gaze.

She'd come to a stop beside a window overlooking the grounds. Bodies littered the grass and were consumed by flame, their clothing a mixture of the black robes belonging to Death Eaters and those belonging to students.

"Do—" Narcissa began, choking on the words she wanted to say. "Do you think Draco's—?"

"Cissy, keep moving. He's here. I know he is."

A moment passed in stillness as they watched the roar of the flames consuming the grounds, and then they started forward again. Lucius refused to allow himself to wonder to whom the blood streaking the floor belonged.


	4. IV

**IV.**

 **" _Hold onto this lullaby even when the music's gone"_**

 **1994**

As his fingers moved over the keys, Lucius felt more at ease than he had in recent memory. His work for Minister Fudge had been incredibly taxing, of late, and Lucius had spent much of his time attempting to ensure the parties responsible for Draco's injury at school were severely punished. Fudge had given his word that the beast responsible for attacking Lucius's only son was to be executed, and now that he knew Draco was safe, he felt no guilt in allowing himself the evening off from worry.

Narcissa sat beside him on the piano bench, her head resting against his shoulder. She'd been singing along to the melodies he played for quite a while, but now she had become quiet. Lucius glanced to his right to look at her as his hands continued, and he smiled gently as he realized that she'd fallen asleep.

He began to play more softly, trying not to wake her and hoping that the peace of the music followed her into her dreams.


	5. V

**V.**

 **" _Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound."_**

 **1981**

"What do you mean, he's gone?"

Lucius didn't answer immediately. Instead, he dropped his mask to the floor and closed the remaining distance between himself and his wife, laying his hands on both her cheeks and pulling her lips to his to kiss her deeply. Narcissa sighed, ostensibly irritated at the lack of a verbal reply, and returned the kiss. After several moments, Lucius pulled back, resting his forehead against hers.

"I mean the war's over, and we're free. I mean Draco won't have to grow up wondering we're going to be exposed, and you can stop waiting up all night for me to come home. We're _free_ , Cissy. It's all over."

He met her eyes, which had begun to swim with tears. A moment of silence passed, and then she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him to her tightly.

"We're free," she repeated.


End file.
